A significant portion of Massey’s clinical research enterprise is housed in the Pavilion. Along with the associate director for clinical research, Charles Geyer, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.P., and the medical director for clinical trials (currently under recruitment), Massey’s medical oncology and hematology early phase clinical investigators are located there. In addition, the Pavilion is home to many of Massey’s clinical research nurses and associates as well as clinical research regulatory staff.

The clinical research team members collaborate with other clinical investigators as well as laboratory researchers from the cancer center’s various scientific programs to develop and oversee clinical trials that reflect both the strengths of Massey’s science and the cancer burden of its patients to ultimately advance cancer treatments.

“By housing the many arms of our clinical research staff in the same building, the Pavilion allows Massey’s faculty to foster robust, collaborative research endeavors that will continue our success as Virginia’s largest provider of cancer clinical trials,” said Gordon D. Ginder, M.D., director of VCU Massey Cancer Center.

Also housed in the Pavilion are the staff members supporting Massey’s Clinical Research Affiliation Network, which extends the cancer center’s promising clinical trials to its statewide clinical research affiliated-community oncology practices and hospitals. Leading the affiliation network is Khalid Matin, M.D., F.A.C.P., Massey’s newly appointed medical director of community oncology and clinical research affiliations.

Space is also available in the Pavilion for planned recruitments in cancer prevention and control research. Cancer prevention and control researchers at Massey study the behavioral, policy, organizational and environmental factors that affect cancer risk, diagnosis, treatment and survival. This research includes community- and patient-based initiatives aimed at educating, raising public awareness and informing decisions that are critical to prevent and control cancer.

Additionally, in the basement of the McGlothlin Medical Education Center is room reserved for shared resource equipment to support multiple Massey research projects.

The Pavilion was made possible by generous donors. To date, more than $4 million in philanthropic funds has been raised to support it. Recently, the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation committed a $1 million grant that challenges Massey to raise $2 million in matching funds by May 2014. Another recent gift was committed by C.T. Hill, a longtime member of the Massey Community Advisory Board and co-chair of the Research for Life Campaign, and his wife, Moria. The Hills’ $250,000 gift has been recognized with the naming of a conference room in their honor.

“Thanks to our generous donors, the Massey Research Pavilion will allow our staff to continue pushing forward Massey’s mission to alleviate the suffering and death caused by cancer,” said Ginder. “We are incredibly fortunate to have a community of donors that understands the long-term payoff for investing in this kind of resource.”

Most recently, Matin was director of community oncology and associate professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. He was also an attending physician at Roswell’s satellite facility in Amherst, NY. Prior to his roles at Roswell, Matin was a medical oncologist at the Cancer Center of Montgomery, Alabama, which is part of the Southeast Cancer Network; a clinical assistant professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute in Pennsylvania; and attending physician in hematology-oncology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pittsburgh.

A board certified medical oncologist and clinical researcher, Matin is an expert in the study and treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. He has developed several clinical trials for GI cancers, and he has served as the principal investigator and co-investigator on various colorectal and lung cancer trials.

In his role at Massey, Matin will oversee the cancer center’s partnerships with third-party hospitals and oncology practices to provide Massey’s first-rate medical oncology services throughout Virginia, and he will also manage a quality clinical trials program for the center’s statewide Clinical Research Affiliation Network. He will work closely with the associate director for clinical research, Charles Geyer, M.D., F.A.C.P., to extend Massey’s promising clinical trials to its clinical research affiliated-community oncology practices and hospitals.

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Matin to Massey,” said Gordon D. Ginder, M.D., director of VCU Massey Cancer Center. “He fills an important new leadership position at the cancer center that is integral to the expansion of our clinical trials throughout the state and to continuing our vital role as Virginia’s premier cancer resource for research, patient care and education.”

“Dr. Matin’s expertise in GI cancers and leadership of Massey’s statewide medical oncology partnerships and clinical trial affiliations is a great asset for all of Virginia’s cancer community,” said Steven Grossman, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care.

Matin received an M.B.B.S. degree from Aga Khan University Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, and was later granted an M.D. degree after passing the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates’ United States Medical Licensing Examination. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center at the University of Minnesota and his fellowship in hematology-oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. He and his wife, Sadia, have three children.